The company quietly bought 90pc of the Georges Simenon estate from Chorion, the intellectual property company that collapsed into administration last year, after seeing off fierce competition from John Simenon, who retains the remaining 10pc.

DC Advisory Partners brokered the deal for an undisclosed sum. Now Peters Fraser Dunlop, the literary arm of The Rights House, plans to establish Georges Simenon as a major brand.

The prolific Belgian crime writer, who wrote 391 books including 75 around his Maigret detective character – played above by Michael Gambon in a 1992 TV version – is a bestseller in Europe but has “languished” in Britain, said Caroline Michel, PFD’s chief executive.

The company is in discussions to revive Maigret for a new television series and has struck a major deal with Penguin to publish all the books, starting in the Autumn. It will also produce audio versions with Amazon’s audiobook venture, Audible, where Ms Michel hopes they will benefit from the US launch of Whispersync. The new service will enable bibliophiles to listen to an audiobook then continue reading the same title as an ebook, automatically bookmarked at exactly the same place that they left off.

“This is a perfect moment for a writer like Simenon because it is difficult to keep that many books stocked,” said Ms Michel.